House GOP members unveil $3B VA supplemental funding bill

A coterie of House Republicans introduced new legislation on Friday to provide supplemental funding to help cover a budget shortfall at the Veterans Affairs Department through the end of the month.  

The Veterans Benefits Continuity and Accountability Supplemental Appropriations Act — cosponsored by House Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole, R-Okla., committee members Mike Garcia, R-Calif., Judge Carter, R-Texas, David Valadao, R-Calif., and House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Chairman Mike Bost, R-Ill. — would provide the VA with an extra $2.89 billion to cover additional costs at the Veteran Benefits Administration.

“This isn't just about a funding shortfall—it's about holding the administration accountable for its failures. We cannot simply throw more money at a broken system and enable further waste and mismanagement,” said Garcia, the lead sponsor, in a statement. “My bill is focused on both ensuring our veterans receive the care they've earned and demanding accountability from those in charge.”

The supplemental funding is meant to cover the fiscal 2024 portion of a projected $15 billion shortfall expected between now and fiscal 2025. VA officials informed the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee of the shortfall in July, saying that it was tied to compensation and pension, as well as readjustment benefit costs originating out of the VBA.

VA officials also projected a potential $11.97 billion shortfall in fiscal 2025 due to rising hiring and pharmaceutical costs. 

After the Honoring Our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics (PACT) Act expanded VA benefits eligibility for veterans with 23 respiratory illnesses related to burn pits used by the military, VA began ramping up hiring efforts, including 61,000 new hires at the VHA in fiscal 2023,  to be able to manage a growing influx of patients and beneficiaries.  

But in January, Government Executive learned that portions of the VA network had been limiting hiring to cover budget shortfalls, with some deploying “‘cost avoidance strategies’ that included ‘strategic hiring/onboarding,’ overtime reductions, travel limitations and other efforts.”

In a July 17 letter to VA Secretary Denis McDonough, Bost put the shortfall blame squarely on the Biden administration and its handling of the PACT Act influx.

“The budget shortfall seems to be a troubling mix of anticipated costs that were not budgeted for and other costs that lack sufficient explanation or are speculative. For example, although compensation and pension obligations have been running below expectation so far this fiscal year, it is well understood that claims submissions have increased due to the PACT Act and this year’s rulemakings, that disability examinations increase with the volume of claim submissions and contentions, and VBA typically experiences a surge in obligations near the end of the fiscal year,” he said. “Similarly, the annual increase in community care obligations has been fairly constant in percentage terms since fiscal year 2022, but the Biden-Harris administration has declined to include community care growth in its base budget request for VA while seemingly straining, if not breaking, the limits of what the Toxic Exposures Fund can pay for.”

Friday’s legislation would cover the VBA deficit from unappropriated Treasury funds, but also require McDonough to provide a report to relevant House and Senate committees within 30 days of enactment detailing what corrections the VA will take to better forecast its budget requirements for compensation and pension and readjustment benefit costs. 

Within 60 days, the VA would have to provide a report to relevant House and Senate committees on the status of the requested funding for fiscal 2024, 2025 and 2026 that will be updated every 90 days until Sept. 30, 2026. 

The VA inspector general would also examine the underlying cause of both the VBA and VHA shortfalls and report to the relevant committees within 180 days under provisions in the bill.